Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1887-05-12
AnoYwHow WAS WILD.

Laoa,, noe he was a trifie wild. from
uslhourns Mr.. White received a letter
from the captain stating his boy mao
deserted and gone into the interior o.
the country. Later Mr.. White receiV-
al a short letter from his boy saying
H. was in Melbourne. Months passed
and. hearing nothing more, Mr.. "hite
sent to the American Consul TO Try
and get some news of his on lie re-
ceived a reply that a young man an,
swering Whites description had diea
in the Melbourne hospital OF Typnoio
fever. The family have mourned ior
their dead boy. Recently they were
surprised by his return.
Two DAYS later, when White had
been home long enough to be allowed
out of his parents signt ios rev
moments, he was met by q Maii aHa
Express reporter, to whom ne told
the story OF his wanderings. seven
wears AGO, when he was only IL, ne
was about as wild a boy as could be
found wandering about without a
- fs.tr-S Haa#
INV poor father tried everything to
persuade me to keep straight SAD
White, f.but one morning when L
returned from Yale with an invitation
in NV pocket to keep away from n
college in the future, the old gentle
man lost the last vestige ofhis temper
and decided to send me TO sea. aid
not much mind the prospect then, pu1
If / had known all ! would have TO go
through / think / would nave cut my
| throat before / starred. Arrange
ments were made for me on n
shin Black Hawk, bound to Mel
bourne. Australia. / vas to live
in the house with the carpenter and
boat swain, and to take my, meals IN
the cabin at the second table.
SO for two days, but at theend oitnat
time the captain ordered me 70 go
aloft andloosen the mainroyal. lhad
not got over my seasiekness, and the
prospect of climbing to that dizzy
height was not pleasant. Istarted all
the same. ] had never been of the
| deck, but I had seen the sailors up
aloft, and it looked so easy that /
was quite sure | could do almost as
well as they. When ] reached the top
and found / had to crawl over 1t hike
a fy / began to weaken. To add to
my troubles, as / climbed higher the
motion of the vessel seemed to IN
crease, and Ifelt awfully sick. look
ed down on deck to ask permission to
descend. Before l could do so ! be-
came dizzy. i did not wait for any
further excuse. | seized the first rope
/ saw and slid down. The captain
was in a towering passion. He swore
at me and dubbed me until he got tired
and then said he would not have cab
in grub wasted in such a reckless
way. | could move into b eiorecastie
and see if | could eat salt horse and
hard bread. 1t took us ITO days to
reach Melbourne, and my lite Tor that
time was a torment. Every time |
went on deck | was given the dirtiest
kind of work. 1t was so bad that l
made up my mind to run away as
soon as the ship got in port. The
first night we made fast to the long
pier at Sandridge / slipped over the
side with my best clothes done up in
a bundle and $50 which lhad brought
from homein my pockets, and started
to walk thethree miles to Melbourne.
Iloafed round the Victoria Hotel
the first day Preached Melbourne and
got in with a rather tough set. Pok-
er was proposed in the evening and |
was done out of every cent. / had
paid n days board in advance; SO
/ went to bed and thought over
what / should do. / decided to
20 to sea again. The next day / re-
turned to the same clearinghouse
keeper who had hidden me away and
told him wanted a ship. He soon
procured me one going to Shanghai.
China. | was Obliged to ship as an
able seaman, but / thought they could
not find out how incompetent ! was
until we got to sea and then they
could not throw me overheard, SO |
would get to China anyway. Thetrip
was not pleasant by any means. The
chief officer in whose watch livestock
q dislike to me aud all the nasty Jobs
about the ship fell to my share. The
captain was a firstrrate man and did
not allow any i~ll-usage, so / got of
pretty well until after We had arrived
in Shanghai and the captain hadgone
on shore. Then the mate told me to
go aloft.. 1t was showing hard.
went up with a pair OF mittens in my
hands. The mate yelled at me to
come down. As my foot touched the
deck he struck me across the eyes
with a piece of rope having an iron
ring on the end of it.
j staggered to the combings of the
hatch and dropped there with my
head buried in my hands. | felt a
bucket of icecold water thrown over
me and heard the mates voice telling
me to get up. / looked at him, and
though almost blind, could see his fig.
ure standing over me with the same
rope. In a moment the hatred which
had been growing all the months since
we left Aurtralia seemed to rise i'm me,
| drew a sheath knife from my belt
and made one lunge with it. Twas
too blind to see where | was striking,
but felt the blade meet something
soft and heard a fearful groan and q
heavyfaH. Everything seemed strange
n mdistinct about me, but | seemed
to hear cries for the police. and then
felt the men take hold of me, DRAG
me into the cabin and lock me in a
little closet. In an hour the CAPTAIN
opened the door and called me out,
| could not see him very we'll because
| was still nearly blind. His
voice, / thought, was not as harsh as
1t might have been. He asked me
why had tried to kill the mate, and
when had told him ordered me back
into the closet. sat there for hours
wondering if the mate was dead. Att.
er dark the steward came to me with
supper. He told me that the mate
was mor scared at the sight OF his
W blood than hurt, and advised me
TO get out and run away. He gave
me a few dollars and said a sannar
would be under the bows i'm half ar
hour. l suspected he was acting by
h captains orders, but ! thought Il
best to ask no questions. When thf
time came tried the door. 1t was
unlocked, and with my shoes in my
hand crawled through the cabin AND
out on deck. The steward and one
sailor were the only men in sight, AND
they had their backs turned to me ir
an ostentations way, SO | kept tc
the bows and gave a low whistle
l heard the paddle of an oar and sic
down a convenient rope until felt my
leg sefzed and was drawn into tht
sanpan; The boatman landed m,
above the city, and alone and at night
started on loot to tramp my WAY
INTO the interior of China with nc
IDEA where was going and only think
ing OF getting as far from the shin and
. mar had stabbed as / could
when daylight came | found mysel
IN a big rice field. There were a few
Chinese cottages in sight, and to then
lac my way. With some Difficult